1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to digital imaging. Particularly, the invention relates to a method for the viewing of visual information with an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The term blueprints refers to the plans for the guiding of many processes such as building constructions, product manufacture, machine construction, shipbuilding, electrical installations, pipelining and gardening, for example. Blueprints may also even refer to drawings and illustrations used in software design, project management and organization planning. Nowadays, the blueprints are predominantly produced using Computer Assisted Design (CAD) software. However, sometimes they may be still drawn manually, especially in more artistic designs. The blueprints are mostly printed on large ISO 216 A0-A3 sized sheets. The roughly corresponding sizes in the ANSI standards are B-E. The blueprints are used in the sharing of building information for builders, master builders and construction engineers. The blueprints are maintained by a construction designer. As changes occur during the course of the construction, they are made known to the construction designer who updates the blueprints. The updated blueprints are printed, sometimes by an external subcontractor, and delivered to the construction site or to any other place where they are needed. The blueprints are often annotated with version numbers. On a construction yard there is maintained a list of valid blueprints. The validity of a blueprint may be checked by comparing the version number of a specific blueprint to a version number associated with the identifier of the blueprint on the list.
The problem with the paper blueprints is that as the plans change, the blueprint becomes outdated. This may happen very frequently since any change in a minor detail renders the blueprints obsolete. Sometimes the construction staff makes on-site notes and changes to the blueprints reflecting calculations and ad hoc design solutions. As new versions of the blueprints are provided, such notes and changes may be lost, unless they are made known to the construction designer early enough. The printing cycle of blueprints may be, for example, up to a week, so there is a potential risk of using invalid blueprints. Similar problems may be found in any sharing of frequently changing visually communicated information, which consists of a lot of detail.
Recently, mobile communication devices equipped with digital cameras make it possible to capture images or video even from documents.
It would be beneficial to be able to have a solution which enables the verification of blueprints using a mobile communication device and a digital camera.